This application is for partial funding of a conference called "Cancer Genetics and Epigenetics" to be held under the auspices of the Gordon Research Conference (GRC) in mid-January 2003 at the Sheraton Harbortown, Ventura, California. This will be the fourth biennial GRC conference on this topic during a particularly exciting time for the field. Work in all areas covered by this conference is progressing at an ever-increasing pace. This makes communication between researches ever more essential. At this conference, the attendees (130 maximum) working on selected aspects of cancer research and pertinent basic genetic/epigenetic mechanisms will debate presentations on current topics, critique poster presentations, and develop informal discussions. The meeting will feature nine speaker sessions and daily poster sessions. Poster presentations, as well as more than nine of the speakers, will be chosen from the submitted abstracts. Therefore, this conference will provide a good showcase for younger investigators and late-breaking data, as well as featuring internationally renowned senior scientists. In the tradition of this conference series, there will be emphasis on formal discussion, with 15-20 minutes set aside for debate after each talk. This conference will provide a forum for exchange of information between investigators working on the molecular biology of cancer and those working on basic mechanisms of gene regulation. An outline schedule of scientific talks has been prepared based on the unifying themes of epigenetic gene regulation and the molecular responses to DNA damage in cancers and in cancer precursor tissues. These talks will cover selected aspects of tumor suppressor and oncogene function, gene silencing by DNA methylation, genomic imprinting and chromatin alterations, DNA repair and recombination. There will be one session dealing with these same topics in the setting of molecular epidemiology, and two sessions will deal with these topics in breast cancer and hematological cancers. Recent discoveries continue to uncover mechanisms linking these areas, so we expect that cross talk among investigators will yield synergistic advances.